The present invention is generally in the field of external guide sequences, and specifically in the use of external guide sequences to convert the phenotype of drug-resistant pathogens to a drug-sensitive phenotype.
Drug resistance in pathogenic bacteria is a problem of major clinical importance. When public hygiene practices are careless, plasmids carrying genes for drug resistance spread rapidly through both animal and human populations through various routes. Nosocomial infections (that is, hospital acquired) are most problematic in terms of drug resistance, with many multi-drug-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermatities, enterococci, and Escherichia coli present in hospitals leading to life-threatening illness, especially in immunocompromised patients. The standard approach to this problem has consisted of attempts to discover new drugs to which the bacteria are sensitive, an expensive and time-consuming process. To further complicate matters, bacteria continue to mutate to acquire resistance to newly developed drugs.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for converting the phenotype of drug-resistant bacteria to a drug-sensitive phenotype.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a composition for converting the phenotype of drug-resistant bacteria to a drug-sensitive phenotype.